A Fenland River

I couldn't decide where to fish, but the camper was loaded with tackle, food and drink, so I set off in the general direction of the Fens and ended up on a nice bit of river on the edge of town.

The cheap but indestructible fibre glass bait snatching pole was set up in seconds, a few maggots were flicked a few yards out and within fifteen minutes I'd got a bucket full of bleak, roach and perch.

I was hoping for big perch, but expecting small zander and maybe a jack or two. Two Dyson rigs were cast out and the trusty poly ball drop offs clipped up.

Within half hour or so the unmistakable click of the indicator hitting the rear bank stick had me jumping off the chair and watching the line peel off the spool.

The light rod hooped over as a small zander came to the surface before being quickly netted. A nice start.

The next couple of hours resulted in more than fifteen runs, with many missed and six zander to 6lb and two pike being netted. It made a nice change having so much action.

There was a young lad of maybe twelve or thirteen fishing upstream from me. He'd not had a thing, but with darkness encroaching his indicator sounded and he sprang into action and eventually netted a nice pike of 8lb or so. He was chuffed and it was great to see his excitement after waiting patiently for several hours.

All my runs came before 16.00, with dusk and the first hour of darkness a total blank.

I stayed in the camper overnight, right by the river and I was back on the bank at dawn with great expectations. Loads of baitfish were topping, but it wasn't until it was fully light that I got my first take.

It then went mad for an hour or so, with small zander and pike hotting the baits, before going dead, which was my cue to go and make breakfast.

Back on the bank with a full stomach, I dicked around with the pole for the rest of the day, happy as a pig in shite. I had intermittent runs on the livebaits throughout the afternoon until, again, it went dead at dusk.

More pike today, with six or seven between 4-6lb plus small zander and a reasonable perch

On the pole lots of nice roach and perch, a few hybrids, a silver bream and four lovely ruffe.

Nice couple of days with plenty of action.